50 Ways to Hex Your Lover (22 page)

“So you were just hanging around here, helping them put away their files.” He gazed at the scraps of paper that made the carpet
look like the aftermath of a wild New Year’s Eve party.

“That’s me, helpful to a fault.” If she had acted any perkier she would have been Mindy without the pointed ears. The moment
the sheriff’s car rolled into the parking lot along with a fire truck, Jazz grabbed the green scarf so that Mindy’s hair fell
down around her ears.

“Yeah, a real Girl Scout.” He shook his head. “And you have no idea what happened?”

She shook her head. “At first we thought it was a sonic boom or an earthquake. Then Dweezil said maybe a gas main blew.”

He looked out at the parking lot that looked like a war zone. Then he looked to the left at a pristine looking 1956 T-Bird.

“Amazing a sweet ride like that escaped any damage.”

“It was in the garage when it happened,” Jazz lied without batting an eye.

“Uh-huh.” He turned to Mindy. “What did you see?”

“She doesn’t work here anymore. She only stopped by to pick up her final check,” Dweezil said in a flat voice.

Mindy glared at him, but wisely said nothing with Jazz standing next to her.

“Something witchy didn’t cause that?” Detective Larkin asked Jazz before he walked back to his vehicle.

“My work never includes explosions,” she assured him. “Too messy.”

Sixteen

Don’t hang up, Jazz.” She was about to do just that when she heard Nick’s voice. She remained silent and waited. “Flavius
is missing.”

“Did you check Rodeo Drive? Maybe he went shopping.” She regretted her bitchy witch remark the moment she said it. She couldn’t
miss the stress in Nick’s voice. She didn’t think he even knew what that emotion comprised. “He was at the club with you.
Maybe he got lucky.”

“He left a voicemail last night saying that he learned something and would meet me at the Howling Moon Café tonight. He didn’t
show up.”

Jazz winced at the idea of two vampires meeting up at a café geared for the werewolf clientele, but it was also a good place
to go when a low profile was necessary because the weres left them alone and vice versa.

She’d returned home the previous night in such a state of sexual frustration she seriously thought about digging out her handy
dandy vibrator, but she knew it wouldn’t accomplish what Nick could. Plus, she hated any kind of substitution. Especially
when it came to sex.

“Where are you now?”

“My office. I plan to go back to Klub Konfuzion and see if I can find his trail and track him.”

“You won’t be successful,” she said. “The owner employs a very powerful witch to keep not only very strong wards around the
entire area but also a barrier even around the perimeter so any creature can’t be tracked from the club back to its lair.
It’s one of the reasons why it’s so popular. The patrons feel safe when they leave.”

His growl of frustration tugged at her. She had always liked the debonair vampire and didn’t want to think the worst.

“What do you feel?” She knew that since Flavius was Nick’s sire, the two could easily communicate without having to worry
about looking for a cell phone signal.

It was a few moments before Nick replied. “I can’t feel anything. I’ve tried several times contacting him telepathically,
but there’s nothing there.” He paused. “It’s as if he’s been totally cut off.”

Jazz closed her eyes. She knew her senses wouldn’t be able to find Flavius, but she knew what would help.

“I’ll call you right back.” She hung up and dialed another number. When the line on the other end was picked up, she took
a deep breath. She so did not want to do this! “D, if Master Foulshadow needs a driver this week I am available.” She listened
to his excited chatter. “Call it my good deed for the year, but don’t expect anything this generous ever again. Since your
insurance won’t pay for the damage to the office, just charge Foulshadow whatever fee you think you can get out of him.”

She hung up knowing she had just offered Tyge Foulshadow a deal he couldn’t resist.

She called Nick back next. “Meet me on the pier,” she said without preamble then hung up.

She looked down at the sound of animated squeaks and squeals. “Be good and you can come along.” She picked up Fluff and Puff
and carefully stuck them in her large leather tote bag before leaving the house for the pier.

She stopped for a funnel cake for the slippers to snack on then walked on to the pier.

Nick stood at the end, looking out over the ocean. Jazz knew he was aware of her presence, but he remained standing with his
back to her. Trust like that in a vampire was rare and she treasured it. Treasured him.

Too bad witches and vampires didn’t mix.

Try telling that to their bodies though.

She stood there a moment, looking at his bowed figure, sensing the sorrow and frustration he felt. Below that she sensed the
anger that he was experiencing because he felt helpless in finding his friend and sire.

She ignored the slippers’ happy babbling as they consumed their treat. She hated to think what the inside of her bag would
look like once they were finished. They weren’t exactly the neatest eaters around. She had purposely taken out her lipstick
and blush before putting Fluff and Puff in the tote. When they got peckish, they pretty much ate anything and anyone. She
walked down the weathered boards. Once she reached the end, she stood next to Nick, bumping his shoulder with her own.

“I gather he hasn’t contacted you to say that he’s shacked up with some bimbo at a 5-star hotel and forgot about meeting you?”
she asked.

Nick shook his head. “Any time I try to contact him…” he paused. “Normally, there is no problem in sensing his thoughts. Now,
it’s as if there’s a wall there.” He straightened up, bracing his hands on the railing.

“It’s never happened before?” She hoped he would say yes. That Flavius would turn out to be in the mountains of Nepal or something,
even though she couldn’t imagine him hiring a sherpa and lugging a designer wardrobe up a mountain. Flavius was born and bred
a Roman highborn soldier who enjoyed his creature comforts and thousands of years hadn’t changed that mindset.

He shook his head, still looking out over the dark sea. “Never. No matter what is going on with our lives we have always responded
to each other’s call or at least let the other know we were safe.” His jaw tightened. “It has to do with Reeves. I know it.
I feel it.” He closed his eyes in thought. “Some brunette was giving him the eye and he was going to ask her to dance. I lost
track of him after that.”

Jazz knew exactly what caused Nick to lose track of Flavius. She ducked her head. There was that damn blush again. She absently
reached inside her tote and ruffled a pair of soft ears. She wanted to hug Nick, but she wasn’t sure he would accept her touch.
A hug meant sympathy and Nick didn’t do sympathy well.

Before she could come up with anything to say, her cell phone rang.

Nick cocked an eyebrow.
Ding Dong the Witch
“
Is Dead?
”

She shrugged. “It seemed like a good idea at the time. She dug her cell out, glanced at the caller ID and flipped it open.
“Hey, D.” Nick turned to face her, openly listening. “Fine, I’ll be there.” She flipped the phone closed and looked up. She
still didn’t know what to say, but there was something she could offer him.

“I found a way for us to get onto the estate. No guarantee we’ll leave there in one piece. With our luck, we could literally
end up
in
pieces, but along the way we might be able to find out for ourselves what happened to all those missing vampires.”

A glimmer of a smile lit up Nick’s dark features. “It’s more fun when the odds are stacked against us.”

Jazz grinned back at Nick. “Ready for a fight, are we?”

“I’m a vampire. It’s part of my nature.” He returned her grin. “Yours, too, as I recall.” He looked down at her hands and
looked up with a cocked eyebrow.

Jazz jerked with surprise as the image of a fireball appeared inside her mind.

“None of that!” she ordered, but not with her usual heat. The last thing she wanted to do was fight with him. They’d done
that so much over the centuries that she knew she didn’t want any anger lingering between them before they faced off against
Clive Reeves. And considering what little they still knew about him, they were pretty much going in blind. But it wouldn’t
stop her since she didn’t like bullies and Reeves was a bully of the worst kind.

So she’d forgive Nick for showing up inside her head. This time.

Jazz turned around to rest her elbows back on the pier railing. The bright lights from the Ferris wheel and carousel provided
a festive picture that belied the dark and fearful thoughts running through their heads.

“In a few days we could be in the midst of the battle of our lives.We could even lose them. Not that I’m planning on it, of
course,” she said dryly. “I’d like to at least crawl out of there in as close to one piece as possible.”

Nick mimicked her posture. “Won’t be the first time. Won’t be the last.”

“Thank you for assuming we’ll at least survive.” She took a deep breath, inhaling mingled scents of salt air and fish with
the sweeter scents of sugary cotton candy and funnel cake. Growing up in a seaside village she had always gravitated to beach
towns. She felt the breeze lift up the ends of her hair and then felt a light touch move across her skin under her hair.

“We’ll survive.We’re the good guys.” His fingertips stroked the back of her neck in a slow seductive trail that sent waves
of sensation through her body.

She closed her eyes. She wanted to give in to the burn Nick’s touch ignited. Except instead of imagining the two of them on
a bed somewhere, anywhere, she saw the past unfurl before her eyes. Fear and pain threatened to overtake the lust that simmered
deep within her belly. She ruthlessly pushed away the former before Nick could sense what went through her mind and concentrated
on the latter. She knew what she needed in order to forget.

“Hide us from the outside world. Let the magick be unfurled,” Jazz whispered, holding her hands out in front of her. “Because
I say so, damn it!”

The air just beyond them thickened to a silvery mass, turning the boardwalk into a blur of colors and sound. Behind them the
ocean suffered the same fate, enclosing them in a magickal bubble.

She then turned to Nick, placing her palm over the spot where she knew his heart lay. She allowed her imagination to believe
it beat for her. And for the barest of seconds, she was positive she did hear it. Her lips replaced her hand, feeling the
soft cotton, and inhaling the scent that was uniquely his. She drew it deep into her lungs as if to imprint it on her memories
and smiled when she felt his muscles tighten in response. She knew if she lowered her hand she would feel another muscle just
as taut. Instead she raised her head and stood up on tiptoe to brush her lips against his.

“I remember the first time we made love,” she whispered.

“That small village outside of Venice.”

“Small? The inn was larger than the entire town. And the bed had fleas.” She wrinkled her nose.

“I didn’t notice.” One hand tunneled under her t-shirt. “I gather from your spell we won’t attract an audience?”

“All they’ll see is an empty pier and they’ll feel no desire to even come down here.” She dropped her tote bag to the ground,
ignoring the protesting squeaks from inside. Pulling Nick’s t-shirt up over his head and discarding it was her next task.

“My apartment isn’t all that far from here.” Nick growled his pleasure when her bra hooks snapped free. “Lots of privacy,
big bed.” He used one hand to pull her closer to him as he cupped his hand over her breast, feeling the nipple pebble against
his palm.

“I like it here. Fresh air, and even with the spell there’s still that sense of being discovered.” She made short shrift of
his belt before tearing open his jeans, muttering another form of dire curses on men who chose a button fly over a zipper.
Another set of words sent the metal buttons flying everywhere.

Nick heard just the faintest hint of desperation in her voice, felt the skips in her respiration, saw the stark color that
stood out on her cheeks, and recognized it for what it was. His fearless witch was afraid. So afraid she was ready to indulge
in hot primal sex right here so for a short time she could forget they would be walking into an unknown hell in a few days
time.

He grasped her hands when she started to pull down his jeans.

“Jazz.” She ignored him and continued tugging to no avail. She may have been strong, but she couldn’t beat his preternatural
strength. “
Griet.
” A muffled sob hurt his ears. Not the sound, but the emotion and despair that overlaid it.

“I want you. What is so wrong with that?” she asked, keeping her gaze on the ground.

“Not that way.” He used two fingers to tip her chin up. “What we share is passion. If we have sex the way you want it now,
he
will win.” He hurt inside when she recoiled.

She breathed sharply through her nose. He could feel her struggle to center herself. He also smelled the frantic arousal on
her skin. He planned to erase the anxiety and intensify the arousal.

“All you have to do is say no.” She still refused to meet his eyes.

Nick smiled. “Ah, but I don’t intend to say no.” He leaned down to whisper in her ear. “I just intend to make this all about
us.” He didn’t bother pulling her t-shirt off, but tore it from her body as if it was paper. Her bra was next. He bent his
head and covered one breast with his mouth, taking the nipple between his lips. He ignored his body’s clamor to drop his fangs
and focused on showing her as much pleasure as their bodies could handle. As he suckled, he drove his hands downward into
the sides of her panties, fondling her bare skin as he pulled her fully against him. He slid one hand to her front, finding
the nest of hair that tangled around his fingertips. Below he found her slick and moist for him. He delved further, seeking
her clit and pinching it between his fingers.

Jazz gasped as the fire tore through her body. She bucked her hips against his hand as she clasped his head, sliding her fingers
through the dark silky strands.

This is all for us, Jazz.
Nick’s voice bloomed through her head.

Magick.

The mental image was so raw and erotic that Jazz reeled from the intense power that slid around her. Her hips rocked as Nick’s
fingers sped up their seductive rhythm within her core and what she saw in her mind’s eye upped the ante to something so strong
it was amazing she didn’t fall to the ground.

She saw herself naked, kneeling on dark-purple silk cushions. Her hair was loose, a fiery nimbus around her pale shoulders.Moss-green
eyes glittered with heat that should have seared the man standing before her.

The Nick in her vision, in all his naked glory, leaned forward, resting one knee on the cushions while Jazz reached up to
loop her arms around his neck. She smiled up at him, lips parted, inviting his kiss.

How?

I said this was all about us. The least I could do
was add something to go with our privacy bubble.
His words growled inside her mind, as they watched Nick’s X-rated vision.

Jazz felt Nick’s fingers dance another form of enchantment along her labia as she watched the dream Nick approach her dream
self with the feral grace of the predator of the shadows he was. And what she saw she also felt.